Versification and the History of Linguistic Ideas
Paris, January 21–23, 2026
Scientific coordinators
Romain Benini (Sorbonne Université, IUF / STIH) & Pierre-Yves Testenoire (Sorbonne Université / HTL)
Conference abstract
Metalinguistic thought and versification have been intertwined, likely since their origins. Grammar and metrics developed in several independent traditions—Indian, Greek, Arabic—as related fields of knowledge, both serving a common purpose: the transmission and exegesis of poetic or sacred texts. Versification features in grammatical description beyond its external relationships with metrics and prosody: either because verse constitutes a portion of the corpus studied and cited in grammars, or because metalinguistic reflection itself is sometimes composed in verse.
The analysis and theory of versification, which require the use of grammatical categories, thus form part of linguistic thought, as they also play a role in aesthetic theory. The links between versification and linguistic ideas are striking, shaped by numerous factors that remain to be further explored. These include, on the one hand, the cultural status of verse texts, often regarded as superior to other types of discourse—evident in the association of poetry with the sacred—which leads to both an overrepresentation of verse in grammatical discourse and particular issues related to the immutability of text. On the other hand, the mnemonic properties of verse facilitate the memorization of long and complex grammatical developments. As a result, many ancient grammatical treatises in languages such as Arabic (Carter 2020), Latin (Law 1999, Colombat 1999), Sanskrit (Filliozat 1983), Syriac (Farina 2016), and Tamil (Chevillard 2018) were composed in verse, often for pedagogical purposes. These versified grammatical discourses, tied to specific traditions of knowledge transmission, have consequences for language description: metrical constraints may, for instance, act as a filter on terminology (Colombat 1997).
Moreover, some analytic notions originate in the theorization of verse writing. For example, in Sanskrit, the “foot,” originally a metrical unit, came to refer to a verse line, and then to a segment of speech (Pinault 1989: 327); in Chinese, the opposition between “empty” and “full” words stems from poetic parallelism (Niederer 1993: 3); in Greek, metricians made early observations on the syllable, speech sounds, and vowel quantity (Lallot 1985: 39–40; Kleiner 2017).
Conversely, the study of versification systems is itself a linguistically and historically significant field (see e.g., Lote 1949, Gasparov 1996, Choukr & Paoli 2010), and has been foundational in various theoretical movements, such as Romance philology (Diez, Paris), comparative grammar (Havet, Saussure, Meillet, Renou, Kuryłowicz), experimental phonetics (Lote, Verrier, Spire), poetics (Jakobson, Ruwet, Dominicy), generative grammar (Halle & Keyser, Kiparsky), and musication (Chen, Dell & Halle, Aroui). Analyses of versification and metrics have had significant repercussions in many areas of linguistics, particularly phonology. Within generative paradigms, the so-called “metrical” theory and aspects of prosodic structure draw directly from traditional metrical terminology (Nespor & Vogel 1986, Hammond 1995). Russian formalists’ work on versification is a key source of structural phonology. Jakobson’s first formulation of a “phonological law” (1979 [1923]) arose from a comparison between Russian and Czech verse (Patri 1998). In this context, one may ask: what role has comparative versification played in the history of linguistic ideas? Usener’s hypothesis of a Greek Urvers (Campanile 1982), taken up by Wilamowitz and Meillet, gave rise to the comparative metrics of Indo-European languages. This field developed in the 20th century as an extension of comparative grammar into versification and phraseology (Watkins 1995, West 2007). But comparative approaches to diverse versification systems are attested much earlier, notably in the Classical period.
This symposium seeks to document the contribution of versification knowledge to the history of linguistic ideas. That contribution varies widely across linguistic traditions, periods, and schools of thought. Some grammars and language teaching methods include sections on versification; others do not. Major theorists of classical Arabic metrics also wrote grammatical treatises (Bohas & Paoli 1997, Paoli 2008), while among Greek grammarians, the explicit inclusion of metrical parameters in linguistic description remains marginal, though not absent (Duhoux 2000). Since the late 18th century, work on versification has clearly influenced the development of several linguistic theories. The metrical work of linguists such as Humboldt (Couturier-Heinrich 2012), Paris (Doutrelepont 2000), Saussure (Testenoire 2008, 2017), Meillet (Bader 1988), and members of the Prague Linguistic Circle (Ibrahim & Plecháč 2014) has been examined—others remain to be explored.
These observations raise the broader question of how versification shapes metalinguistic thought. This conference invites original contributions on the role of versification in the history of linguistic ideas. All periods and linguistic or cultural areas may be addressed. Proposals may explore topics such as:
- Versification in metalinguistic discourse: versified grammars, the emergence and decline of verse-based grammars, their relation to wider traditions of didactic poetry (e.g., in the Latin Middle Ages and Renaissance); occasional use of verse to describe language—what are the histories, functions, usages, and effects of such versification?
- Effects of verse on linguistic theory and description: the role of verse examples in grammars; how metrical features are (or are not) taken into account in grammatical analysis; metrical arguments used in linguistic justification; the impact of verse corpora on syntactic description, lexicographic practice, etc.
- The role of versification in specific linguistic traditions: the historical contribution of metrics to the understanding of particular languages; the place of versification analysis in the grammatisation of a language; use of verse in language teaching materials; circulation of metrical and linguistic concepts; contributions of verse analysis to linguistic methods and theories.
- History of verse theory and description: contributions to the history of metrics and its controversies; the status of “rule” in versification treatises; historical and epistemological analyses of the methods or ideas associated with major schools (philology, structural poetics, comparative metrics, generative metrics, computational metrics, psychological or cognitive approaches), etc.
References
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Carter, Michal G., 2020, « The Use of Verse as a Pedagogical Medium, Principally in the Teaching of Grammar », in Sebastian Günther (ed.), Knowledge and Education in Classical Islam: Religious Learning between Continuity and Change, t. 2, Leiden, Brill, p. 449-474.
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Scientific Committee
Emilie Aussant (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle)
Jean-Luc Chevillard (CNRS/HTL)
Bernard Colombat (Université Paris Cité)
Catherine Depretto (Sorbonne Université)
Marc Dominicy (Université libre de Bruxelles)
Margherita Farina (CNRS/HTL)
Patrick Flack (Université de Fribourg)
Jean-Michel Fortis (CNRS/HTL)
Jean-Marie Fournier (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle)
Frog (University of Helsinki)
Enrica Galazzi (Università Cattolica di Milano)
Mariarosaria Gianninoto (Université de Montpelliers Paul Valéry)
Anne Grondeux (CNRS/HTL)
Bruno Paoli (Université Lumière Lyon 2)
Guillaume Peureux (Université Paris Nanterre)
Georges-Jean Pinault (École pratique des hautes études)
Please send your abstracts by 1 July 2025, at the latest, to the shesl2026@listes.u-paris.fr
Abstracts of approximately 250 words must include a bibliography.
Schedule
July-August 2025: evaluation of proposals
September 2025: notification of acceptance
21-23 January 2026: conference in Paris